My job is to speed up India's nuclear strike time, DRDO chief

As A.K. Antony leaves for China on a four-day official visit on Wednesday, the first by a defence minister in seven years, new facts about the direction India's nuclear missile programme is taking could send out an unprecedented message to the neighbouring nation.
The new chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr. Avinash Chander, has revealed that one of his key mandates is to drastically reduce the time India will take for a potential nuclear counter-strike.
"In the second strike capability, the most important thing is how fast we can react. We are working on cannisterised systems that can launch from anywhere at any time," Chander told Headlines Today in an interview.

"We are making much more agile, fast-reacting and stable missiles so response can be within minutes."
India has a no-first-use policy for nuclear weapons, and its current response time for a retaliatory strike is classified.
Chander has expressed confidence that India's current land-based nuclear weapon delivery systems include the 1,250-km range Agni-I, 2,000-km range Agni-II and 3,500-km range Agni-III.
The DRDO chief has expressed confidence that two of India's most ambitious nuclear missiles under test -- the 4,000- km range Agni-IV and 6,000+ km range Agni-V -- will both be inducted into the strategic arsenal within two years.
"We'll induct the Agni-IV and V in the next two years. It's the first time we will be inducting strategic missiles with such long ranges together. Agni-III, IV and V are going to be the thrust areas. They give us the reach which we need, and are our highest priority now. Within two years we have to make sure that it happens," he said.
On whether India needed an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), with ranges in excess of 10,000-km like China's DF-31, Chander said his missile laboratories could develop and deploy an ICBM in three to five years.
"As we see today, we don't find the need for ranges more than 5,000-6,000 km. The technology building blocks required to build a longer range missile already exist. We are in a position to activate any such system at very short notice," he said.
Asked about how India's missile programme squared off against China's, he said: "Comparisons are odious, always difficult, and many times taken out of context. If you see at the capability level, our missiles, radars are comparable with the Chinese and other friends around us."

BEIJING: An outspoken Chinese general known for his nationalist views warned India on Thursday against stirring up "new trouble" in a long-running border dispute, just as defence minister AK Antony was set to visit Beijing.
"The Indian side should not provoke new problems and increase military deployment at the border areas and stir up new trouble," Major General Luo Yuan told reporters.

Luo, the deputy-director general of the world military research department at a People's Liberation Army academy, described himself at a briefing as a "reasonable hardliner".

He made waves last year with comments questioning the legitimacy of Japanese sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands, a chain that includes Okinawa and hosts numerous United States military bases.

"India is the only country in the world that says that it is developing its military power because of China's military threat," said Luo, who was wearing a business suit.

"So I believe that India should be very cautious in what it does and what it says."

A high-altitude border dispute between the nuclear-armed giants in the Himalayas has simmered for decades but intensified in May over troop movements in the region.

If Avinash Chander is talking about reducing reaction time to minutes,it will require a doctrinal shift on how nukes are maintained in India. Right now India keeps nukes in component form to be assembled when ordered to. This is to keep it safe from first strike. If we have to launch in minutes, we will have to keep the. Assembled and in fact mated with the missiles. This increase te vulnerability of our nukes

If Avinash Chander is talking about reducing reaction time to minutes,it will require a doctrinal shift on how nukes are maintained in India. Right now India keeps nukes in component form to be assembled when ordered to. This is to keep it safe from first strike. If we have to launch in minutes, we will have to keep the. Assembled and in fact mated with the missiles. This increase te vulnerability of our nukes

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Yusuf bhai, we have almost gone to next stage where we can launch counter attack in few minutes of the attack. This will going to send loud and clear massage to both the friends dont mess with us or within minutes you will get back in tons.

Plus it does not increase the vulnerability on the contrary it tell us how serious we are about our trident and hitting back fast and hard on our enemies. Now are on high table.

If Avinash Chander is talking about reducing reaction time to minutes,it will require a doctrinal shift on how nukes are maintained in India. Right now India keeps nukes in component form to be assembled when ordered to. This is to keep it safe from first strike. If we have to launch in minutes, we will have to keep the. Assembled and in fact mated with the missiles. This increase te vulnerability of our nukes

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There are reports of agni's on the Chinese border so this may happened years ago?

If Avinash Chander is talking about reducing reaction time to minutes,it will require a doctrinal shift on how nukes are maintained in India. Right now India keeps nukes in component form to be assembled when ordered to. This is to keep it safe from first strike. If we have to launch in minutes, we will have to keep the. Assembled and in fact mated with the missiles. This increase te vulnerability of our nukes

I think what he is trying to say is that he got green signal from the Govt to go to next stage, which means major shift in our nuke plan.

Now after 15 years of the second series of test in 1998, we have moved to position where we have learn from the operational doctrines and moving to point where we can reply in minutes. Now what he is saying is the whole infrastructure which is require for such system. IMHO it would be.

Monitoring stations, satellites and setup in our cities in case of nuke attack on us, also we need to identify which of our enemy has launched it. Then as Kunal sir has point out infrastructure where the nukes will be command and controlled at least 5-8 different places in the country, complete secure communications with one another and with NCA by SFC. Putting nukes and missiles in secure locations its security and other things.

So it is the entire set up for such a system that he is talking about, which means generational shift in our operational doctrine, it also means that at Pakistan would now have to shell out more money for Defence to counter us. Those who are in same business knows what he is saying. Since our NFU policy and massive retaliation means that within minutes we are going to launch about 50-70 nukes, plus sub nukes in future, it will be very large volume of work which he is talking about in his tenure.

What he has indicated, We have operational facilities which are nuke proof and design to carry out second strike..

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For all these years, our nuke strategy was to make sure all components are scattered around to prevent total destruction by first strike. If we were attacked, order to retaliate would have been given which would take days if not weeks to execute because all components had to be for together, then mated with the missile and fired.

If we have moved to responding within minutes, nukes cannot be in component form but assembled and ready

For all these years, our nuke strategy was to make sure all components are scattered around to prevent total destruction by first strike. If we were attacked, order to retaliate would have been given which would take days if not weeks to execute because all components had to be for together, then mated with the missile and fired.

If we have moved to responding within minutes, nukes cannot be in component form but assembled and ready

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Yusuf bhai that is not the case, we have a system where three components are kept separated, three components are missile with SFC, nuke trigger with DRDO and Nuke core with BARC. These three things are kept separated, but that does not mean that they are in different locations they might be in same city. In the present system their is alert levels, last stage is where all of the three are kept in different location under their respective organisation, then when the first alert is raised, all three come to single location, next stage is when the all three are mated and the final stage is where launch orders are given by SFC. (this was posted about 15 years ago in India today)

So technically it wont be days or week for counter nuke strike, they might get it on the same day.

Yusuf bhai that is not the case, we have a system where three components are kept separated, three components are missile with SFC, nuke trigger with DRDO and Nuke core with BARC. These three things are kept separated, but that does not mean that they are in different locations they might be in same city. In the present system their is alert levels, last stage is where all of the three are kept in different location under their respective organisation, then when the first alert is raised, all three come to single location, next stage is when the all three are mated and the final stage is where launch orders are given by SFC. (this was posted about 15 years ago in India today)

So technically it wont be days or week for counter nuke strike, they might get it on the same day.

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Storing nuke core at BARC is an inviting a crippling strike which finishes off our deterrent. Core is under BARC control but not at BARC. It cannot be. Primary deterrent agsinst China today is A2. Somewhere in tunnels under the mountains. A first strike will be sudden without warning. So core is at some place say Tamil Nadu, trigger somewhere else in Rajasthan. This has to be got together assembled and mounted under the mountains to fire.

I think I will be proved right about my estimate that we have more nukes than what western intel predicts at 80-100. We can't move to a ready level till we have more nukes. We may have as many nukes as what Chinese estimates are at about 225.